The FDA’s announcement Friday to approve convalescent serum therapy as a large-scale clinical trial opened the door for more patients to receive the potentially life-saving gift of a donor’s plasma. Houston Methodist, one of the first institutions in the country to infuse convalescent serum into a critically ill patient, immediately was able to offer the therapy to two more COVID-19 patients. Over the weekend, six more patients were infused with the potentially life-saving antibodies of convalescent serum, bringing the total of treated patients to 10.

 

Since the trial began March 28, 10 fully recovered COVID-19 patients have since donated their plasma for fellow patients, and more donations are scheduled for this week. Physician scientists at Houston Methodist cautioned that the convalescent serum therapy – more than a century old and used in previous infectious outbreaks around the globe – remains experimental, and it could be some time before its effectiveness in individual patients is known.

 

For information on how to donate plasma, please call 346.238.4360.